The idea of outsourcing your company’s IT needs often arises during a period of growth or other type of transition. This is proven when we look at the most commonly outsourced tasks, which include software development, infrastructure and security support (Tier 1,2 & 3) & monitoring, and migrations to new technologies or platforms. In the midst of so much change, it’s helpful to get very clear about what to consider when deciding whether or not to look beyond your in-house IT team, and fortunately for all of us, it couldn’t be any simpler.
We propose that there are two primary considerations: time, and money.
In the Interest of Time
One of the most common reasons that companies outsource is for data migrations and infrastructure changes. It’s considerably faster to contract with a third party rather than training an entire IT staff to perform a function that will only happen once in the organization’s lifetime. There’s a diminishing return, for example, if a team is trained to migrate infrastructure to the cloud. Once the project is completed, there is no viable business use for this knowledge. A better use of staff time would be to learn how to administer cloud environments instead of how to build one from the ground up, much in the same way that we teach people to drive a car instead of how to become engineers to design and build one.
Time factors into hiring decisions, too. More likely than not, your business has an IT need that can be addressed in under 40 hours a week. Staffing is a challenge in the best of times, and in times like these, finding qualified team members who are willing to work part-time is next to impossible. Outsourcing is an ideal solution.
The final time consideration boils down to the generalist vs. specialist debate. Small- to medium-sized companies understandably tend to employ generalists to support
the business functions of their company. When specialist-level projects come along, it takes time to train a generalist to perform that specific function. This kind of training can stretch out over months because the employee has primary job functions to uphold on top of the IT business change. Access to a talent pool of an outsourced partner instead of training in-house staff is the ideal way to enable a company to upscale quickly, and with minimal disruption to the normal workflow.
Dollars Make Sense
One of the main advantages of outsourcing, of course, is to reduce expenses. Though not a guarantee in all situations, this aim can easily be achieved if the outsourced company performs a function that would be cost prohibitive to build out. Help desk support is one classic example of this. Most companies would require a minimum of four help desk staff members to perform 24/7 help desk functions and this often includes many unseen soft costs. Most companies with 100 employees or fewer do not have four dedicated staff members in the entire IT department, let alone four just for help desk services. Outsourced IT covers the need at a fraction of the long-term cost.
Instant Time-to-Value
The majority of business decisions, IT and otherwise, relate back to either time or money (sometimes both). The team at 5 Point Technology can quickly help your business address these concerns, delivering instant time-to-value. And you can feel confident that the right outsourcing partner will actually be able to anticipate your next concern, because we’ve done this before. That’s the big advantage and a major time-saver, which, as we know, means it also saves money. See – it’s one big symbiotic loop, which is just the kind of relationship you need during times of transition and growth.